Is the North Conway NH real estate market affected by the bank owned homes in NH and Maine?

People are always asking, "How are the foreclosures in the area? They must really be driving down the prices!". My answer is pretty straightforward: "The number of bank owned homes for sale in North Conway, or Bartlett or Jackson is not large enough to cause serious damage to home values in general, but the volume of bank owned properties in NH, ME and VT over-all, has an impact on the value of second homes." What I try to point out is that values in most of the United States are depressed, but regionally we did not experience the same level of boom that the most notable foreclosure states saw. Our prices are down but home sellers really aren't taking a bath just yet. The stats from RealtyTrac prove this out as well. NH has weathered the storm better than alot of other states.

BTW- I will insert a link to my NH Real Estate Search engine at the bottom of this blog for anyone that is looking for real estate in NH. I can help with property anywhere in NH, from my home area of North Conway NH, where I can help with the entire home purchase or home sale process to the far reaches of the state, where I have connections with most of the best real estate brokers in the business.

Back on point: North Conway NH homes are affected by the national trend and some of the local neighborhoods in North Conway or Bartlett and even moreso Ossipee, are affected more than others. Real estate is a localized asset. I would say that I have seen the most bank owned real estate in the last 18 months in Ossipee NH. I have not seen any Ossipee Lake bank owned or foreclosed homes...yet, but I think, statistics will show that Ossipee NH real estate has been the hardest hit, with some property types seeing a drop of 20% in value in the last year alone. However, due to the localized nature of property, the lakefront and waterfront or even water access properties in Ossipee have not had the same drop in value. Ossipee (sometimes mis-spelled Ossippee NH) Lake real estate has probably suffered no more than a 5% reduction in value. When this amount is compared to the 20% down payment needed from most vacation property owners that finance their real estate purchase, you can see why these are not the first properties in a town like Ossippee, whoops, Ossipee Nh to feel the pinch.

To me, the bottom line is that this is the time to sell unless you are ready to hold on for another year or two or three for prices to be back to where they are today, and that's a BIG maybe. The Boston Globe even reported on the trend in vacation home sales recently as going down. "Your property is losing value every day and will continue to do so into 2011." So right now, waiting to put it on the market is basically chasing the tiger down the hill. If you own North ConwayReal Estate, Ossipee NH real estate, TamworthNH real estate, Albany NH real estate, Bartlett NH real estate, or Jackson NH real estate and think you may want to sell in the next few years, decide soon because the bottom is still moving under your feet.

Please use this link to go to my NH real esate website at Bill Barbin and this is the direct link to my NH MLS real estate search function site at NH Real Estate

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